forever young naturally exercise

Forever Young Naturally Exercise

41. Exercising the Brain Rearrange familiar objects

Move objects you habitually reach for without thinking in the morning: alarm clock, toothbrush, cutlery, breakfast cereal. This forces your brain to shift into gear early on and may make mornings more wakeful.

42. Exercising the Brain Become a lifelong student

Continuing study through each new decade keeps the brain performing in a youthful way. Book an adult education course (to maintain interest make it a subject you feel passionate about), join a book group or local history society, a choir with a challenging and changing repertoire, or try something practical such as car maintenance. The group aspect is important because socializing keeps the memory sharp and brain agile.

43. Exercising the Brain Learn a language

Enrol in a language school or invest in a course to follow in the car or on the train. Learning languages stimulates the frontal lobes, the part of the brain that functions less efficiently as we age. Book a vacation in a country that speaks your chosen language and download some local information. With a dictionary, pick through the weather report, arts reviews, and events guides.

44. Exercising the Brain Build up to daily meditation

Find 10 to 20 minutes a day to sit quietly. Researchers found that daily meditation may slow agerelated brain deterioration by altering the physical structure of the brain. People who meditated for 40 minutes a day had a more dense cerebral cortex than people who did not. In other studies, practitioners of Transcendental Meditation demonstrated cognitive, perceptual and physical abilities equivalent to people up to 10 years their junior.

45. Exercising the Brain Holy fig tree pose

Balancing postures in yoga require you to find a focus point and maintain concentration on it. This not only helps you find and explore your center of gravity to prevent falls, but also enhances memory skills. 1. Stand tall, feet hip-width apart. Step forward with your right foot. Straighten your left leg and lift it behind you, keeping your hips level.2. If you feel steady, lift your right arm overhead, your fingers pulling upward and your shoulder dropping away from your ear. 3. Lift your left arm 45° to the side, stretching fingertips. Look forward, and visualize each limb stretching on its own plane. Repeat on other side.

46. Exercising the Brain Basic meditating

Set an alarm to ring in five minutes. Sit with your spine upright, feet flat on the floor, palms resting on thighs. Relax your shoulders and jaw and switch off from everyday concerns. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath moving in and out. Let this steer you away from trains of thought. If it helps, breathe in to a count of three or four. Exhale to the same count. When distractions arise, focus on your counting or awareness of your flow of breath in and out. Return to regular breathing as the alarm rings and slowly open your eyes. Once you feel easy with the technique, increase meditation time in increments of 5 minutes.

47. Exercising the Brain Enjoy family and friends

Make time to enjoy the company of friends and family. In one study of older people, those with emotional support from a strong social network were more likely to retain memory, abstract thinking and language skills, even if the relationships were testing!

48. Exercising the Brain Scent your day

Perfume various times of day with different aromas to establish associations that trigger new neural pathways. Scent the car with 2 drops of essential oil of basil. Follow your morning shower with a distinctly scented body oil.

49. Exercising the Brain Vacation senses

Choose a new scented soap for a vacation or weekend away. This will stimulate memories of your break when you use it again at home.

50. Exercising the Brain Eat greens

Consume foods containing plant antioxidants, such as spinach and blueberries. An American study suggests this helps reverse mental decline as we age. Plants that are also rich in folate are even better: researchers found older men who ate folate-rich leafy greens and citrus fruit had significantly less age-related decline in memory and brain function over three years than those whose diets were low in folate.